Her Smile
by Ryou Shirogane
Summary: One shot short. It's just an ordinary day at Cafe Mew Mew, but something's bothering Ryou. Will the jealous blond be able to win a smile from a certain redhead? [COMPLETE]


Her Smile

By: Mew Cherry

"Okay! I'll see you at 5 o' clock tommorrow! I can't wait!" she exclaimed. Her face had turned a reddish hue and she had this goofy grin on her face.  
"Okay," he smiled down at her, "see you then, Momomiya-san."  
"Sure!" she answered, amber eyes sparkling. "Take care, Aoyama-kun!"   
She stood there at the end of the sidewalk until Masaya Aoyama, her 'boyfriend', had completely disappeared from sight.  
"Ichigo..." came a voice from behind her. The red-haired girl spun on her heels to face her friend and co-worker Minto Aizawa.  
"Eh? What is it Minto?"   
The girl with the blue hair looked annoyed and slightly cross, "Get back to work, Ichigo!"  
"Oh... right... work..." Ichigo mumbled, still blushing visibly and lost in her own little world.  
"Argh! Ichigo!!" Minto grabbed the other girl by the ear and began dragging her back towards the front door of Café Mew Mew, "Forget about your boyfriend for a minute, and help us clean up!"  
"That's odd to hear coming fr-- nyao!! Minto, that hurts! Nyaa!" Ichigo complained loudly.  
"If you had just come with me to begin with..."  
"But you **never** do any work around here!"  
"I do too. And that has nothing to do with..."  
"It has **everything** to do with!!" protested Ichigo.

He watched the entire scene from the upstairs window until he heard his two employees enter the dining area downstairs. Ryou Shirogane moved away from the window and reached for the bottle of water that he always kept there. He took a long swallow of the clear liquid, _"Why is it that Ichigo's so crazy about 'that guy'? She's always smiling and blushing and giddy whenever he shows up..."_  
Ryou couldn't see what was so special about him, but it made him jealous. Ryou wouldn't admit these feelings, not even to himself, but it bothered him to see Ichigo smile at Masaya. It made him angry. And with him... Ichigo had never smiled at him. Ofcourse, it was true that the two of them were almost always arguing about something stupid like work hours and having to fight the aliens... but just once, even if it only lasted for a nanosecond, Ryou wished that Ichigo would smile at him. Just a little.  
Ryou hadn't moved in a while as he pondered over the thoughts in his head and the hurt that came from somewhere else.  
"Tweet?" asked the little pink fluffball who rested on the back of his office chair. The robot flitted over to him and hovered companionably in front of his face, "Tweet tweet?"  
Ryou blinked, finally noticing the robot before him.  
"I need to get back to work, huh? R2000?" the blond murmured finally.  
"Tweet!" R2000 chirped.  
"I bet she really does hate me..."  
"Tweet?"   
Ryou stopped himself, "Nevermind. I was thinking out loud."  
"Tweet?" R2000 asked sadly.   
Ryou flopped back into the chair and wheeled it closer to his laptop which sat alone on a desk. He began typing. R2000 floated over to him again.  
"It's nothing. Don't worry. Why don't you make sure the girls aren't ditching work?" he suggested. His eyes didn't leave the monitor.  
"Tweet!" R2000 replied before flying out the door and down the staircase.

Downstairs was the usual scene. Ichigo clung exhaustedly to a broom handle; Minto sat calmly at one of the tables sipping tea; the shy Retasu tried her best to mop up the parfait she had dropped earlier; the energetic Purin was putting on an act in which she juggled four plates of chocolate cake; and the beautiful model, Zakuro Fujiwara, took care of the cash register. Keiichiro was no doubt in the kitchen at that moment baking something delicious.  
"Oh! There you are, Masha!" Ichigo perked up as she spotted the little robot.  
"Tweet!" he answered.   
"Ichigo... you're slacking..." Minto pointed out.  
"Oh hush! I don't see you working **at all**!!"  
"Ichigo-san... Minto-san..." Retasu attempted to calm things down before there was another argument.  
"Excuse me! Will someone take my order?" called a girl from the back corner.  
"Yes yes! I'll be right there!" Ichigo trudged off.  
"We need our check...!" someone else shouted.  
"Coming!" Retasu answered cheerfully... slipped on the wet floor and came crashing down again. Zakuro came over and helped up the girl with the glasses.  
"You should be more careful."   
"I'm sorry!!" Retasu appologized quickly, pushing her glasses back up onto her nose and hurriedly picking up the things she had dropped. Zakuro sighed and returned to her place at the cash register and searched for the ticket she would be needing.

"WATCH ME PERFORM!" Purin announced, "I will now balance seven plates along with knives and forks, na no da!!"  
"Purin-chan, please be careful..." said Retasu in a worried tone.  
"I'll be fine Retasu onee-chan! Watch! I can balance spoons and teacups too, na no da!!" Purin then bounded off to find more items for her act.  
"Just don't break anything! I don't want to clean it up!" Ichigo shouted.  
"Zakuro onee-chan, can I borrow the register for my act, na no da??" Purin begged.  
"Um... no," Zakuro answered seriously.  
"Aww! Why not?! Why can't I??" Purin sobbed.  
"Has anyone seen Shirogane-san today?" Retasu asked suddenly.  
"He's probably playing around with the laptop in his room!" Ichigo grumbled, "Not that I care... whenever he pops his head down here he just gives us **even more** work to do!!"   
"Ichigo-san..." a sweatdrop formed on the side of Retasu's head.  
"It's true!!" Ichigo exclaimed.  
"Would you really prefer if he never showed his face?"  
"Like I said, Retasu, I **don't** care!!" Ichigo said forcefully.  
"Oh sure... **that** would explain why you seemed to enjoy dancing with him, wouldn't it?" Minto asked.  
"WHAT??!" Ichigo fumed.  
"Well, didn't you?" Minto took another sip of her tea.  
"Not at all! It was **awful**! I stepped on his foot **on purpose** so he'd go away... but it didn't work" she muttered angrily.

But the truth was, Ichigo had enjoyed dancing with him, and that frightened her.  
_"I **have** a boyfriend... well, almost... and Aoyama is the only guy I want to be with. So then, why was my heart beating so fast the other night at the dance? It must have been my nerves! It was such a huge place with so many people, and I've never even tried ballroom dancing before. It has to be that! Or else... or else I'm going crazy. There's nothing at all likeable about that jerk!"_ Ichigo argued inside her head.   
"Sure sure," Minto continued, "and then you asked him to demonstrate the correct way to dance..."   
"I did **not**!! That was **all** him!!" Ichigo was boiling now.  
"Ichigo-san?" Retasu asked quietly.  
"What **now**??" she hissed.  
"U-um... w-well... that is..." Retasu stammered.  
"What, Retasu?" Ichigo asked in a normal tone.  
"Well, it seems you're saying you really dislike Shirogane-san, but... you don't hate him as much as you say you do, do you?"  
"I hate him more," Ichigo growled.  
"Do you?" Minto cocked an eyebrow.  
"I... I don't know..." she admitted.  
"Eh? What are we talking about, na no da?" Purin poked her head into the conversation. Zakuro just chose to ignore it, or at least pretended to.  
"Sometimes he seems like he could be a truly amazing person..." she continued.  
"Ah-ha!" Minto nodded.   
"But... **most of the time** he's a rude, obnoxious, and selfish jerk!!" Ichigo balled her hands into fists for emphasis. "He overworks us and we deserve a higher salary!"  
"Oh, I see!" Purin grinned.   
"Eh? Purin?"  
"Ichigo onee-chan has the hots for Shirogane onii-chan! Na no da!!"   
"WHAT??! NO!!" Ichigo's face went red with anger as she dived at Purin to cover her mouth before the whole café heard.  
"What's all this noise? You should be working..." Ryou sighed as he descended the steps. He hadn't heard what Purin had just said.  
"Gomen nasai!" Retasu hurried to wait on customers.  
"They were fighting..." Minto indicated Ichigo and Purin, both of whom had fallen onto the floor in a heap.  
"Uh... hey, Minto! That isn't true!!" Ichigo yelled.  
"Sure looks like it," Ryou commented, "Get to work now or you'll be staying late tonight." He knew that threat would get her working hard the rest of the evening.  
"NO! I'm not working late again, Shirogane!!"  
"Then get moving," he said calmly.  
"Arghh!" she frowned at him, picked herself up, and stormed off.  
"Shirogane onii-chan!!" Purin squealed.  
"Eh?"   
Ichigo whipped around. _"Purin, don't tell him that!_" she willed.  
"Want to see my juggling act, na no da??" she asked excitedly. She looked over at Ichigo with a big grin.  
Ichigo breathed a relieved sigh before zipping off towards one of the tables where two girls waited impatiently for refills.  
"I'm busy. Not right now..." Ryou walked off.  
"Aww... but you never watch my act!" Pudding wailed. Ryou ignored it. He checked with Zakuro to see how business was going and then entered the kitchen to have a word with Keiichiro.  
Ryou entered the kitchen and found it empty. That was unusual. _"Keiichiro wouldn't just leave... especially not with the oven still on. He has to be doing something important down in the lab."_  
Ryou went to turn off the oven and set a boiling pot on a cool eye.   
"Akasaka-san... oh," Ichigo paused in front of the saloon-style door.  
Ryou didn't look up, "He isn't here."  
"I can see that!" she replied smartly.  
Ryou turned abruptly to look at her, but there was nothing he could say. Even if he tried to start up a normal conversation, he was sure it would backfire. _"She's so stubborn."_  
"Why are you staring at me, Shirogane?! Do I have cake on my apron or something??" she asked annoyedly. His silence made her uncomfortable.  
"Ichigo..." he started.  
"What is it?" Now she was confused. She was just sure he was going to complain about something. He always did. Or else he wanted her to do more work. But still, she guessed maybe it could be something else, but then, that would probably be something even worse than the normal.  
"Ryou!" It was Keiichiro. He came up the steps panting.  
"Keiichiro! What is it?" he asked alarmed.  
"Akasaka-san?" Ichigo asked. The other girls had gathered around.  
"Minna-san! I've just picked up the aliens on the radar. They're at the skating arena."  
"Okay then!" Ichigo shouted, "Time to teach those aliens a lesson!" At least this would get her out of work at the café, and away from Ryou.   
"Right!" Ryou said, "Tokyo Mew Mew! Away!"  
"Don't worry," Keiichiro said, "We'll deal with things here.  
The girls hurried for the front door.  
"And Ichigo...!" Ryou shouted from the kitchen door.  
"What?!" Ichigo looked back at him. _"Darn! And I thought I was out of this conversation..."_  
"Good luck," he said simply.  
Ichigo blinked her eyes. _"Is Shirogane actually trying to encourage me or something? It's a bad attempt... but... I guess it's better than him complaining."_   
Her face brightened, "I don't need luck. After all, we're Tokyo Mew Mew!"  
"Ofcourse," Ryou replied smugly.  
"Ichigo, let's go!" Zakuro called.  
"I'm coming!" Ichigo hurried to catch up with Masha tagging along behind her.  
"They truly are amazing girls..." Keiichiro commented before heading back to the oven.  
Ryou stood there at the doorway a while longer. He smiled as he watched them go.

Notes:  
"Gomen nasai" is Japanese for "I'm sorry".  
In Japan, people often go by last names (ex. Shirogane), adding -san to the end of the name would be the equivalent of "Mr. Mrs. Ms." It's more polite.  
"Na no da!" is a verbal exclamation point which Purin often uses.  
"Nyaa" and "nyao" are sounds a cat would make.  
"Onee-chan" is "big sister" while "onii-chan" is "big brother".


End file.
